


Friendly Advice

by Settiai



Series: The Land of Ravens [2]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Advice, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Friendship, Gen, Mentor/Protégé, Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, The Land of Ravens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-07 16:48:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16412201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Settiai/pseuds/Settiai
Summary: Ceres wasn't quite certain what to think when she saw Eryth heading her way.





	Friendly Advice

Ceres glanced up as she felt someone's eyes suddenly focus on her. She let her gaze drift around the campsite as she stopped sharpening one of her daggers, leaning back against the not-quite-a-boulder-but-only-barely that she'd claimed as windbreak when they'd first decided to stop and make camp for the night. It wasn't as if the blade really needed it. At this point, it was mostly something to keep her hands busy and her mind off of... well, absolutely everything, pretty much.

It had been four days since they'd left Lyrengorn, and it still felt like her past was nipping at her heels even though she knew Maya had cleaned up the remaining loose end that she and the rest of Nothrim had left behind in the city. That was the thing about skeletons in your past, though; once one came out in the open, it was hard to convince yourself that others weren't coming too. And Ceres had more than one shadow in her past that she'd rather remain forgotten.

There was a part of her that knew she should feel guiltier about everything that had happened. If nothing else, she should have had the courage to kill Anabel Jassan herself, to finish the job that she'd started all those years ago even if she hadn't realized just what she was doing at the time. It wasn't as if the woman was anything but a shell, an empty husk that was still walking the living world out of sheer spite. The woman had been dead for a decade already, killed along with the rest of her family at the end of Ceres's and Maya's blades.

Two children dead at her hands instead of one. That was... was...

... something she could think about later, because Eryth was walking in her direction. Which answered the question of who it was that had been staring at her.

"Hey Ceres!" Eryth said casually as she walked towards her. "Do you have time to chat?"

Ceres carefully put the dagger she'd been sharpening down in her lap as the elven woman stopped in front of her and shuffled awkwardly in place for just a moment as she clearly waited for an answer to her question. "I suppose that I'm free," Ceres said slowly. "Did you need something?"

"I mean... sort of?" Eryth said. Or maybe asked? There was a slight lilt at the end that made it sound more like a question than a statement, although if it was then Ceres assumed it was a rhetorical one.

Ceres raised her eyebrows a bit.

"I had some questions and needed some advice. About rogue stuff." Eryth let out a soft laugh. "I felt like you'd be the perfect person to ask."

"I have no idea what you mean," Ceres said dryly, glancing over at the small pile of daggers beside her that she'd been sharpening earlier in the evening. Maybe she'd gone a bit overboard, even for her. "'Rogue stuff' can include a lot of different things. Anything specific you wanted advice on?"

Eryth laughed again, plopping herself down on the ground beside Ceres. "Well... mostly, just how to be better." She gave a shrug. "Velora gave me my dagger very early on and has taken me aside to try and help me hone my skills, and I feel like I just don't know what I'm doing. I'm fumbly and clumsy, but the way you are? You seem to meld with your blades, move so swiftly, take people out before they even have the chance to blink. How do I be like you?"

Ceres didn't sigh. It took a lot of effort on her part, but she managed to hold it in. She was the last person who any of these children should have as a role model, but first Shema had asked her for advice and now Eryth was doing the same. She was starting to feel—

—well, probably like Maya had felt all those years ago, when she and Ceres had started working together. Both of them had taught each other things, in more ways than one, but Maya had undoubtedly been the better thief _and_ fighter when they'd first met. Even if Ceres didn't particularly like to admit it.

Pulling her mind back to the present, Ceres eyed Eryth for a moment, thinking back to all of the different spells she'd seen her use over their months together. She had magic. It was would be a waste for her not to use it, no matter how much she might want to use a blade. She needed a way to meld the two, using them both together instead of entirely focusing on one or the other. Though, of course, Ceres was the last person anyone should be talking to about magic.

After a long moment, Ceres nodded, albeit slowly. "I think I can help you a bit," she said. "Your biggest weakness is that you depend on your magic too much instead of a blade. You may have a dagger, but sometimes I think you forget it's even there." Ceres gave Eryth a wry grin, trying to soften her words at least a little. "Not that I can blame you. Some of the shit I've seen you do is pretty damn effective."

Eryth flushed slightly at the compliment.

Ceres tilted her head a bit as a particular spell that she'd only seen Eryth use once, just after she'd joined the group, popped into her memory. "Actually, "she said, "I just thought of something that might work well for you, if you're interested."

It was Eryth's turn to raise her eyebrows as she eyed Ceres curiously. "Go on. I'm all ears." She paused for a moment and snickered. "Almost literally."

Ceres's eyes pointedly darted up towards Eryth's ears, which were ridiculously long even for a full-blooded elf. She wasn't always the wisest, but even she had enough sense not to comment on that one. Discretion was the better part of valor and all that crap.

"I think that I've seen you use a spell before, ages ago, one that holds a person in place," she said, trying to describe the spell as best she could. Magic _really_ wasn't her forte. "It seemed to paralyze them?"

Eryth's eyes lit up. "Ah!" she said. "Yes, I know the spell you're talking about. Hold person! That's what I call it. It keeps them locked in place."

That... was an apt name at least.

"How helpful it would be would depend on how fast you moved at the start of a fight," Ceres said, her mind already drifting off to picture the spell being used the way she was imagining it. She could see that combination being, well, lethal if used properly. "But if you could get that spell on someone and keep it on them, it would make getting close and using a blade on them much more effective as the fight continued." She winked at Eryth. "Stabbing someone is a lot easier if they're not moving out of the way."

Eryth stared at her blankly for a moment. Then her entire face lit up with what might have been the biggest grin Ceres had ever seen her with.

"Wow! I never even considered something like that! That would definitely make hitting them a lot easier, for both myself and the rest of you."

Eryth paused for a few seconds, her eyes glazing over slightly as if she was lost in thought. Her grin faded away, although her body language was still clearly reading as excited. "I guess the trick is to utilize the spells I know to buff what I can do with my blade," she said slowly, "instead of viewing them as two separate things?"

Ceres nodded. "For the most part, yes," she agreed. "Although you have a few spells that you could probably use in tandem with your blade, against a second foe. Some of those ones that you don't really have to think about, like the one where you make vines grab people."

"Oh, I can do that!" A smile slipped across Eryth's face as she flicked her wrist, summoning vines from the ground just a couple of feet in front of them. She pulled her fingers forward, causing the vines to mimic a waving motion at Ceres.

Despite herself, Ceres smiled slightly. She doubted it reached her eyes, but... well, it was something.

"I haven't used these little friends much. I suppose I should put them to work, eh?" Eryth asked with a soft laugh before dropping the spell. "I think I'm starting to get a better idea of what I need to start doing." She paused for a moment before adding: "Is there any other general advice you may have? Things I should keep in mind or ways I can better hone what I know?"

Ceres looked at her thoughtfully for a moment before letting her mind drift back to, oh, a good fifteen years earlier. She and Maya hadn't spent a lot of time with Callie and Cen, at least not outside of the bedroom, but she remembered the halfling putting her fledgling magical skills to good use. Eryth was in a pretty similar place. What would be good advice for someone in that situation?

"Daggers are versatile," she said slowly. "I prefer to be up close and personal if I'm using one, but remember that you can throw one in a pinch. But if you're planning on doing that, I suggest keeping an extra one on you." Ceres glanced over at the wow-that-was-a-lot-of-daggers piled beside her and grinned a bit sheepishly. "Or, you know, ten."

Eryth let out another quiet laugh.

Ceres tapped her fingers on her leg.

"If you have a chance to get close to someone without being seen, take it," she said. "If they don't know you're there, then attacking with a blade can be much more effective. Catching someone by surprise can make a fight end much quicker."

Eryth nodded seriously at that, looking for all the world as if she was trying her best to commit everything Ceres had just said to memory. Then her eyes darted towards Ceres's daggers.

"It might take me quite a while and quite a bit of coin to amass a collection as impressive as yours, Ceres," she said lightly. "But... thank you for all this information. I'll keep it close and hopefully be able to put it to use the next time we're in a sticky situation. Maybe you guys won't have to come save my sorry ass next time around."

Eryth laughed again, but it more hollow-sounding this time. She clearly was thinking about her misadventures back in the drow outpost, when her reconnaissance mission had gone... well, pretty fucking horribly, to be honest.

Ceres opened her mouth to say something that was at least a little comforting – although the gods only knew what was going to come out – but before she could, Eryth's gaze darted towards the chain around Ceres's neck. Damn it. The necklace itself was well hidden, but she _knew_ that she'd been too obvious about playing with it recently.

Almost without conscious thought, Ceres reached up to rest on the chain. She didn't pull the necklace out, leaving it tucked under her armor, but for a moment she thought the chain under her fingertips felt almost warm to the touch.

It was probably just her imagination.

"If you don't mind my prying," Eryth said slowly, _carefully_ even, "I... also meant to ask how you were doing?" She was very pointedly not meeting Ceres's gaze. "You're a very strong person. Something I respect immensely! But... given everything we ran into back in Lyrengorn, it'd be enough to shake anyone up. And you're usually not one for many words, but ever since we left, I feel like you've been _extra_ quiet."

Ceres let out a sigh. "It's been a long week," she said softly. "Lots of things from the past coming out of the shadows."

She paused for a moment, trying to decide whether or not to say anything more. Then she shook her head. No, it wasn't the right time. Not then.

"I'll be fine," Ceres said, forcing her mouth to twist upwards into a teasing smirk that she didn't quite feel. "I'm just spending a bit more time in my head than usual."

Eryth's eyes searched Ceres's face, as if she was trying to read her like a book. Then her expression softened a bit. Ceres bit back a sigh. The girl was too insightful for her own good sometimes.

"It's not good to spend too much time in there alone, though," Eryth said gently. "It's okay to be guarded, but you don't always need to hide yourself away. We're all here for each other, here for you."

She placed her hand gently on Ceres's knee and smiled warmly at her. Ceres forced herself not to shy away, no matter how much she wanted to just then.

"I won't ever force you to talk about anything if you don't want to," Eryth said, doing her best to meet Ceres's gaze this time. "But I'm always happy to listen and help where I can. Gods know you deal with enough of the bullshit that the rest of us go through."

On the other side of the camp, something exploded. Or, at least, that's what it sounded like had happened. Gods only knew what it was, considering it was _them_.

Both of them immediately looked in that direction, Ceres's eyebrows raising at the sound of muffled cursing coming from at least two or three different voices. The corners of her mouth tugged upwards, just slightly.

The timing was perfect. She had to give them that much.

Ceres reached down and grabbed one of the daggers that she'd been sharpening earlier. It wasn't anything fancy, just a basic weapon, but it was something. And gods knew she had plenty to spare.

"Here," she said, handing it to Eryth. "Start building your collection. I'm going to go find out what Z is up to." She paused. "I mean, I assume it's him. It's usually him."

"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised," Eryth agreed with a laugh, taking the offered dagger. She gave Ceres a smile. "Thanks again, Ceres. I appreciate all of your help, truly. And don't forget what I said, okay? No need to be a stranger."

Eryth winked at her.

Ceres gave her a weak smile. Then she gathered up her remaining daggers, pushed herself to her feet, and started walking across the camp to see just what was going on with their poor campfire.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me over on Tumblr. (http://settiai.tumblr.com/)


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